Plane Carrying DHS Chief Loses Engine Mid-Flight

A Coast Guard jet carrying Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin lost an engine mid-flight and landed safely at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, with all 14 people aboard unharmed.

Story Snapshot

The pilot declared an emergency after losing the right engine and requested an immediate landing at Reagan National Airport.
Mullin praised the Coast Guard crew, saying they made the single-engine landing feel routine with no panic.
The aircraft, a Coast Guard C-37A, is the military version of a Gulfstream V used to fly senior officials.
Fire and rescue crews checked the plane after it landed, and it then taxied off the runway on its own.

Pilot Radioed Tower For Immediate Landing

Tower audio captured the moment the crew realized they were in trouble. The pilot told air traffic control, “We just lost our right engine and would like to declare an emergency and immediate landing at DCA.” The pilot also reported 14 people on board and roughly two and a half hours of fuel remaining, giving controllers the numbers they needed to clear a fast, safe path to the runway.

That kind of clear, calm radio call matters. Aviation training stresses that a pilot’s first job during an engine failure is communicating exact numbers fast, so ground teams can prepare. The Federal Aviation Administration notes that serious incidents like this one typically get reviewed by federal aviation safety officials, a process that plays out over days, not minutes.

Secretary Mullin Praises Crew’s Calm Under Pressure

Mullin posted about the ordeal shortly after landing, crediting the flight crew directly. “The United States Coast Guard pilots made the single engine landing feel routine. No panic, just straight professionalism,” he wrote. He added that the pilots told him afterward it was the first time either of them had handled a real single-engine landing outside of training.

Airport officials backed up that account of a clean landing. One report quoted an Airports Authority statement saying the plane “landed safely, was thoroughly checked by Airports Authority Fire and Rescue personnel then proceeded off the runway”. That detail matters because it shows standard emergency protocol worked exactly as designed, with ground crews inspecting the aircraft before it moved another inch.

Aircraft Type Draws Attention To Fleet Age Questions

The plane involved was a C-37A, the military designation for a Gulfstream V, a jet the Coast Guard uses to move senior leaders around the country. These aircraft are built for reliability, but questions about the broader fleet’s age have surfaced before this incident. The Department of Homeland Security has publicly acknowledged that one of its command aircraft is over 20 years old and “faces significant avionics and communications obsolescence issues”.

Government auditors have flagged similar readiness concerns across the Coast Guard’s aircraft fleet more broadly. A federal watchdog report found that from fiscal years 2018 through 2022, the Coast Guard’s aircraft did not meet the service’s own 71 percent availability target. None of that data explains what caused this specific engine to fail, but it does add context for why officials have pushed to replace aging jets in recent years.

Emergency Landings Remain Rare But Well-Rehearsed

Losing an engine sounds terrifying, but modern jets and trained crews are built for exactly this scenario. Aviation safety data shows that planned, precautionary landings carry a fatality rate of just 0.06 percent, a stark contrast to uncontrolled forced landings. The difference comes down to preparation, communication, and runway access, all of which lined up correctly during Mullin’s flight.

#LADYQNEWS #LADYQNEWS
NEW: DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin says he owes the U.S. Coast Guard pilots a huge thank you after his plane was forced to make an emergency landing.

The unexpected stop was due to an engine failure while flying from Georgia to Washington, D.C.

The U.S.… pic.twitter.com/0ti98tDXoO

— Lady Q (@LadyQNews) September 3, 2026

This incident joins a long list of safe single-engine landings that never make headlines because nothing goes wrong. The 2009 landing of US Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson River remains the most famous example of a crew managing catastrophic engine loss without losing a single passenger, a reminder that training and quick decision-making save lives. Mullin’s flight, while less dramatic, followed that same script of discipline over panic.